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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Obama 'Report' by Obama Lawyer Clears Obama Chief of Staff

We can all go back to sleep now. Rahm Emanuel is in the clear. Expect the full report to be released somewhere around 11:55 pm on Christmas Eve, while everyone is snug in the beds with happy dreams of hope and change dancing in their heads.

George Stephanopoulos broke some news today when he reported that his former fellow Clinton White House colleague Rahm Emanuel was cleared by an investigation by Greg Craig, the former Clinton White House lawyer, into contacts the Obama transition team had with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office (so far as we know Blago had no role in the Clinton Administration even though the former president and Blago both have a thing for Elvis, thank you very much.)

As Stephanopoulos reports in his blog (he also said this on "This Week" this morning:

Sources tell me that the Obama team's review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will show that Rahm Emanuel had only one phone conversation with Blagojevich.

The contact, described as a "pro-forma" courtesy call, came as Emanuel was named Chief of Staff for Obama. Most of the discussion concerned Emanuel's Congressional seat (which had previously been held by Blagojevich), with only a "passing reference" to the Senate vacancy, according to these sources. No deal for the Senate vacancy was discussed.

Speculation in Washington and Chicago has been swirling for a week now over what the Obama team's report would find. Until now, the contents of that report have been kept sealed, at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office. Last Wednesday, Obama said he found it "a little bit frustrating" that the report had not yet been released.

In the meantime, let's all go back to pretending Obama has nothing to do with the corrupt Chicago machine that got him where he is today.